Great Danes

Great Dane

Other names	Deutsche Dogge German Mastiff
Common nicknames	Apollo of Dogs, Gentle Giant
Origin	Germany
Traits Weight Male minimum 110–180 lb (50–82 kg) Female minimum 110–180 lb (50–82 kg) Height Male minimum 30–31 in (76–79 cm) Female minimum 28–30 in (71–76 cm) Life span 8 years
Classification / standards FCI Group 2, Section 2.1 Molossian: Mastiff type #235 standard AKC Working standard CKC standard KC (UK) Working standard NZKC Nonsporting standard UKC Guardian Dog standard
Notes	State dog of Pennsylvania
Domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris)

Traits
Weight	Male	minimum 110–180 lb (50–82 kg)
	Female	minimum 110–180 lb (50–82 kg)
Height	Male	minimum 30–31 in (76–79 cm)
	Female	minimum 28–30 in (71–76 cm)
Life span	8 years

Classification / standards
FCI	Group 2, Section 2.1 Molossian: Mastiff type #235	standard
AKC	Working	standard
CKC		standard
KC (UK)	Working	standard
NZKC	Nonsporting	standard
UKC	Guardian Dog	standard

The Great Dane is a large German breed of domestic dog known for its giant size. The German name of the breed is Deutsche Dogge, or German Mastiff. The French name is Dogue Allemand.

The Great Dane is one of the tallest dog breeds. The record holder for tallest dog was a Great Dane called Zeus (died September 2014; aged 5), that measured 111.8 cm (44.0 in) from paw to shoulder.Scooby-Doo is a famous fictional dog of this breed.

Large boarhounds resembling the Great Dane appear in ancient Greece, in frescoes from Tiryns dating back to the 14th–13th centuries BC.

These large boarhounds continue to appear throughout ancient Greece in subsequent centuries up to the Hellenistic era. The Molossian hound, Suliot dog, and specific imports from Greece were used in the 18th century to increase the stature of the boarhounds in Austria and Germany and the wolfhounds in Ireland.

Bigger dogs are depicted on numerous runestones in Scandinavia, on coinage in Denmark from the fifth century AD, and in the collection of Old Norse poems, known in English as Poetic Edda. The University of Copenhagen Zoological Museum holds at least seven skeletons of very large hunting dogs, dating from the fifth century BC to 1000 AD.

In the middle of the 16th century, the nobility in many countries of Europe imported strong, long-legged dogs from England, which were descended from crossbreeds between English Mastiffs and Irish Wolfhounds. They were dog hybrids in different sizes and phenotypes with no formal breed. These dogs were called Englische Docke or Englische Tocke – later written and spelled: Dogge – or Englischer Hund in Germany. The name simply meant "English dog". After time, the English word "dog" came to be the term for a molossoid dog in Germany and in France. Since the beginning of the 17th century, these dogs were bred in the courts of German nobility, independently of England.

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Wikipedia